The bodies and futures of the slaves here belong to the white Virginia landowner whom they make rich with their daily work.

The word is spreading, though.

Abolitionists are fighting for them and towns hum with talk of safe places and ways to freedom.

Balancing hopes against risks, one chooses to escape, seeking help from people along the so-called Underground Railroad.

Maybe the young man will find assistance and reach Canada. He might travel up the Atlantic seaboard on a ship. Perhaps he will reach a safe harbor at a place whose name he has never heard.

It might even be Cape Cod, Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard.

Although connections to the Underground Railroad are largely undocumented on the Cape and islands, local lore and historians describe the region as a likely destination for maritime escapes and an active aid to the nearby abolitionist hotbeds of Boston and New Bedford.

"Cape Cod absolutely would have been a destination from the seaboard ports, which was one method of escape for runaway slaves," said Donald Yacovone, senior associate editor at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

"Because of the maritime connections, certainly Nantucket stands out and I would not be at all surprised if seacoast towns on the Cape served fugitive slaves."

Oral histories and legends passed down through generations of Cape Codders support the speculation. Trap doors, tunnels, false walls and town records continue to fuel the theories of many homeowners and historical societies.

In the absence of documentation, however, experts caution to take dramatic stories with a liberal dose of skepticism.

"Don't believe everything you hear," Yacovone said. "After the Civil War every household wanted to take credit. It's hard to separate truth from local legend."

On the other hand, Yacovone and others said most Underground Railroad activity has never been documented. The reason is simple: Individuals who participated acted with utmost secrecy to protect themselves and the slaves.

Many written accounts were destroyed or have been lost.

"This was dangerous and very serious resistance to the power of the federal government," Yacovone said. "People found assisting slaves were subject to serious prison sentences and fines. They took great steps to guard secrecy."

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The tales from Cape and island towns carry great cultural value, historians agree. And people who have studied the topic say more than enough clues exist to conclude that the Underground Railroad had strong roots here in the 19th century.

Signals and safe homes

The Underground Railroad refers to the informal network of escape routes, safe places and helpers used by runaway slaves seeking freedom from the United States during the late-18th and 19th centuries.

The term encompasses spontaneous acts of help and highly organized methods of assistance.

"Underground" referred to the secretive nature of the effort, as well as the cellars and tunnels that often sheltered runaways.

Language borrowed from the spread of railroads in the 1820s gave the movement the other half of its name. Escape routes came to be known as "lines," runaways were "freight," safe places were "stations," and helpers were "conductors."

A varied system of signals and codes - such as a lantern on a hitching post - helped fugitives find their way. Historians theorize that around 100,000 slaves escaped from the South between 1790 and 1861.

No one knows how many slaves might have traveled north via Cape Cod or the islands, but a number of accounts have been kept alive in area towns.

Specific properties have been noted as evidence of underground activity in Barnstable Village, West Barnstable, East Sandwich, Falmouth, Harwich, South Orleans, Provincetown and Nantucket. Religious groups, particularly Quakers and Methodists, are said to have assisted fugitive slaves here.

A series of historic properties along the Old King's Highway in Barnstable Village and Sandwich - each with easy access to Barnstable Harbor - offers the most reliable evidence in the region.

With their trap doors, tunnels, odd cellars and closets, many of the homes that were owned by recognized abolitionists have long been linked to the Railroad.

Tall tales or true accounts?

Since moving into his home in Barnstable Village in 1997, Clyde Claus has developed a curiosity about its history.

His estate, known as the Isaac Davis House, is said to have been a stop on the Railroad. It features a 15-foot tunnel on the east side of the house that leads to a narrow cellar chamber. The door to the tunnel is cloaked by iv other plants.

"It doesn't make logical sense to me to have an entrance to a cellar that starts in a tunnel that far off," Claus said.

The odd design of the home's foundation also leads Claus to believe that the cellar space might have been a hiding spot. There also is evidence that a trap door once led up from the cellar to a closet in the main house.

"Architecturally I've never seen this before," Claus said. "Nobody in 1850 would have built a closet like this one."

Claus cannot be certain that the home was used to harbor escaped slaves, but he said the intriguing history of the structure has convinced him that it was possible.

A few houses east sits the Alvan Howes House, owned by Arthur and Peggy Kane. The home is linked with the Underground Railroad in at least three works on Barnstable history, making it the most verifiable in the area. A trap door in the center of the common room leads to an original cellar.

An eyewitness account recorded in "Notes on Old Houses in Barnstable," written by Francis Sprague in 1917, said the home was a safe place for runaway slaves.

In "A Cape Cod Sketchbook," written by Jack Frost in 1936, Alvan Howes was noted as "enough of an abolitionist to chance bringing slaves North to freedom on his ship. Barnstable also housed slaves who made their way there across the Cape after landing elsewhere. It is said that the unusual cellar (was a) hideaway when the anti-slavery societies of Sandwich and Barnstable were active as early as 7."

Kane said the connection was mentioned in the sale of the home, but he "took it with a grain of salt.

"But with so many references, different authors and an eyewitness account, that's pretty convincing. I believe it."

Pat Anderson, director of Barnstable's Historic Preservation Commission, said only three properties are informally recognized by the town as being associated with the Underground Railroad: The Alvan Howes House, the Sylvanus Phinney Homestead and the Ezekial Thacher House, all of which are on the Old King's Highway.

"The others are folk tales and often that is all they are," Anderson said. "There were certainly those folks who were anti-slaver did a lot. You would have had slaves being transported through the harbors. But those are the three that I'm comfortable with."

Freedom by sea

While sympathetic whites often get credit for assisting fugitives, African-Americans deserve most of the recognition for their success, said Yacovone of the state historical society. He participated in the Black Abolitionist Papers project at the University of North Carolina.

"It took a great amount of courage to do what these people did," he said.

Because of the prevalence of blacks in the maritime industry during the period, ocean routes were key for many escapes.

"Blacks had always played a major role in maritime trades throughout the 19th century," Yacovone said. "They were able to hide runaways or integrate them into crews."

The combination of a free black population and Quakerism made Nantucket an enclave for abolitionists. 1820 Nantucket's black population was 724 out of 7,300. Celebrated black leader Frederick Douglass was reputed to have made his first anti-slavery speech on the island. The Black Heritage Trail on the island showcases a restored school and church, plus privately owned homes where runaway slaves were sheltered in the early 1820s.

On Martha's Vineyard, the free black population also flourished, reaching a high of 571 blacks in the 1840 census. Robert Hayden, author of "African-Americans on Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket," hopes to uncover more about the islands' connection to the Railroad.

"We have not identified any physical sites, but certainly we know there were fugitive slaves that came ashore and were protected by individuals and families," Hayden said. "We can guess that others stopped there and continued on to further points."

Other tales of old Cape Cod

Another harbor that is said to have been a delivery point for fugitives is Pleasant Bay near the Cape's elbow. The Hillbourne House on South Orleans Road, with a spectacular view of the bay, was an Underground Railroad stop, according to the Orleans Historical Societ word of mouth.

A trap door leading to a small cellar chamber remains in the wide pine floor of the common room.

"Supposedly this was the only house in Orleans that can be connected with some confidence (to the Railroad)," said Jack Hayes, who recently sold the property.

New owner Bernd Zeller says he plans to keep the trap door and cellar as interesting conversation pieces for visitors at the inn.

"The house has no basement, just this strange room," Zeller said of the chamber that is only about five feet deep. "I didn't expect to find anything like this out here on Cape Cod. Having a little piece of history is rather lovely."

The John Long House, the oldest home in Harwich, also is suspected as a safe place. Local legend says that the false area behind a chimney was used to hide runaways.

Abolitionism in Harwich is generally associated with Capt. Jonathan Walker, who was imprisoned in Florida for transporting fugitive slaves. His right hand was branded "SS" for "slave stealer" by authorities in the mid-1800s. Brooks Academy in Harwich features a plaque dedicated to Walker.

Ann Sears, director of the Falmouth Historical Society, tells the story of a female runaway slave who was helped by a group of women in that town around 1805.

With his ship moored at the town wharf, the slaveowner took his female slave to be registered at the Falmouth Post Office. When he left the girl at the office to take care of other business, several women asked the girl if she wanted to stay in Falmouth. She agreed and was hidden among barrels in the basement of the building, Sears said.

"When the businessman returned, the slave was nowhere to be found," Sears said. "His ship was set to leave at the wharf. He had to go with or without her, so he left."

The girl was taken into a black family living in Falmouth, and she eventually married Joseph Ray, a boatman responsible for carrying the mail from Falmouth to Martha's Vineyard. One of her children, Charles Bennett Ray, was born in Falmouth and became a leading black abolitionist in New England.

"There are some really great stories from this period," Sears said. "It's a history we wish we knew more about."

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